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Washington Post: The Senate Mails it in
Washington Post: The Senate Mails it in
Washington,
Apr 27, 2012 -
THERE ARE THREE ways to evaluate the Senate’s newly adopted plan to deal with the financial crisis at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which is losing more than $20 million per day and has almost exhausted its $15 billion credit line from the Treasury.
One is to compare the bill with what’s politically possible. By that standard, the bill helpfully trims the Postal Service’s workforce — which accounts for 77 percent of costs — by 100,000 over the next three years, mostly through early-retirement incentives. The legislation also would eliminate some of USPS’s debt to the Treasury and stretch out payments to a retiree health-care fund, saving billions more. And it passed with an admirably bipartisan majority of 62 votes.
By a more important measure, what the Postal Service actually needs to be solvent, the Senate bill falls disastrously short. In February, USPS management spelled out a five-year plan to cut $20 billion in costs and restore long-term viability. The plan required ending mandatory Saturday delivery, downsizing a bloated network of mail-processing facilities and restructuring the employee health insurance program. The Senate bill enacts none of these reforms...(read more)
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